Your Letters continue to move and inspire us, and as we closed 2024 and now look forward to 2025 we are grateful for another year of connection and growth. 2024 marked our fifth anniversary, and so we wish to share with you an interview that reflects on the life cycle of Letters to the Earth so far.
Get ready with a cup of tea and enjoy the below by our new intern Sarah Ellen Faulkner.
Celebrating the 5th anniversary of Letters to the Earth,
in conversation with Kay Michael
A theatre-maker and cultural producer with a wealth of experience in working at the intersection between the arts, climate, and nature, Kay is one of the founders of Letters to the Earth. In this interview, she reflects on the last five years and the evolution of a project that continues to give voice to people in support of climate and ecological action.
“Mobilising people to speak up for the Earth in social and political spaces has always been in the DNA of Letters to the Earth”
Letters to the Earth began with the climate uprisings of 2019, a year characterised by Greta Thunberg’s call for international climate strikes and a programme of civil unrest co-ordinated by Extinction Rebellion (XR). Instigated by Clare Farrell of XR, a meeting in January of that year brought artists together to discuss a creative mobilisation for the Spring Rebellion in London. Recognising the importance of capturing the heightened feelings of the moment, Kay and the novelist Anna Hope found a mutual interest in designing a creative outlet for the public. “We wanted to facilitate a creative response to the huge eruption of grief that we were witnessing as people were engaging with the climate emergency" Kay explains, “An activity that would have wide engagement and impact - and bring life to the streets of London.”
Theatre-makers Jo McInnes and Naomi ('Nimmi') Wirthner were soon on board, and a decision was made to create an event in which everyone could be involved in writing a response to the moment. With a smile Kay recalls, “At some point Nimmi said, “Let’s call this Letters to the Earth.” It gives me goosebumps because any creative expression is really a message to the Earth - something from people’s hearts; something to be seen and heard and received like a letter would be. That naming was a piece of magic.”
The project launched on Friday 12th April 2019. “The timing was important” states Kay, “as a joint day of action with the Fridays for Future climate strikes, and it was the Friday before XR’s Spring Rebellion began.” Host venues for the event extended further than UK-based partners such as Shakespeares' Globe and the National Theatre Scotland, to theatres and community groups in South Africa, Zambia, Latvia, Canada and the United States. Following a public call out in collaboration with Culture Declares Emergency, more than a thousand letters were received from around the world.
“We spent a week at the National Theatre Studio reading all the letters. We had to bring in more readers to help because we were totally overwhelmed. At the same time, we created a ten-minute performance script from the letters, articulating a journey of hope. We sent the script out to each host along with 20 letters each and an invitation to hold public or private readings. They could create exhibitions, or make videos, whatever they wanted to do. There were some high profile events and people involved in the day which generated press interest, and letters continued to be read in protest on the streets.”
After a successful launch the team assumed that the project was complete, but within a month they were approached by the publisher HarperCollins. In November 2019, Letters to the Earth: Writing to a Planet in Crisis was published, with a foreword by the actress and activist Emma Thompson.
For Kay, the book launch was a chance to acknowledge and thank the people who had contributed to the project. “It was such a joyous community celebration with great food, performances, music, and speeches. We had contributions from some of our authors, including Complicité’s Simon McBurney and actors Paapa Essiedu and Freya Mavor, and from children too. Altogether it was an act of beauty, love and inspiration.” Kay pauses before continuing, “We haven’t been able to do that since”.
When the Covid pandemic struck in March 2020, the team responded by taking the project online. On 22 April 2020, working in partnership with the Donmar Warehouse theatre, readings of fifty new letters were streamed live on Facebook. ‘Earth Day: Letters of Love in a Time of Crisis’ marked both Earth Day and the first anniversary of Letters to the Earth. It was a positive event at a difficult time. “Thousands of people joined us live on that day, coming together to reflect on how the pandemic was changing our lives, and its relationship with the climate and ecological emergencies. For some, being in lockdown, there was a big change in the appreciation of nature and in the expression of our relationship with it.” Later in the same year Letters to the Earth enabled children to demand action from Parliament on the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill.
Kay notes that Earth Day continues to be a significant date for action. “Last year, a call out for letters on Earth Day’s The Big Onemarch in London produced 400 letters giving voice to nature, all of which were sent to the Environment Minister with a call for government action.” The same activity has since been a part of Restore Nature Now's actions in 2024.
By the end of 2020, the project was demonstrating an ability to respond quickly to social and political moments, helping people to speak up and have their voices heard. Collaborating with campaign co-ordinator Jon Slack at the UN Climate Change ConferenceCOP26 in Glasgow, Kay remembers the event as a turning point. With sponsorship from Vivobarefoot, a new letter writing campaign was launched in 2021, including a call out to business leaders in conjunction with a media campaign headed by Dame Vivienne Westwood. Workshops were held in partnership with a variety of cultural organisations and letters were individually handed to delegates at COP26. “We recorded a lot of letters to camera in Glasgow. Hearing the voices of indigenous leaders speaking their message from the lands they represent was a moving experience. We want to make sure these voices continue to be heard.”
For COP27 in 2022 the team travelled to Egypt via Calais, filming and recording letters written by refugees from North Africa and the Middle East. This time, they screened videos of letters in the official Blue Zone, enabling people to speak directly to delegates. “Mobilising people to speak up for the Earth in social and political spaces has always been in the DNA of Letters to the Earth” says Kay, “Especially the voices that are less represented, less heard.” Recognising the project’s long-term potential to support climate and ecological action, the team continues to run workshops and support climate events, making their award-winning
community & educational resources accessible on the website for groups to use.
Today, Kay is reflective about the future of Letters to the Earth “Our work is in response to an emergency, and that energy of urgency plays a role, but it’s not sustainable. I’ve learned that there is power in pausing for a moment from business as usual and the horrors of the everyday news to consider what the crisis really means for us - and how it might change us. It's actually meant slowing down.” For Kay, this includes exploring new ideas and approaches that bring people together in spaces for shared experiences. Working with Amber Massie Blomfield, former Executive Producer of Complicité Theatre, she is developing an interactive performance inspired by a growing archive of letters. A new model for workshops and outdoor programmes that connect people with nature is being designed in collaboration with Amelia Parisian. In 2025, Letters to the Earth is growing its team and deepening its projects.
Woven throughout Letters to the Earth's approach is eco-philosopher Joanna Macy’sideas on
active hope. “It has been a great foundation for us in terms of how we invite people to participate, taking people on a journey based on love and gratitude, from where we can express our grief for the world and see a way forward.
I believe that in the storm of anxiety and fear and urgency we are deeply longing for and needing something that can restore balance, build our resilience, and build community.” Kay pauses before continuing, “It’s about reconnecting with the wonder and beauty of life and finding your role in acting in its defence.”
There is much more activity and many individuals and partners we haven't been able to include in this interview, so if you'd like to explore more of what we've been up to over the years, click below.
We wish you all a Happy and Healthy New Year and look forward to connecting and sharing more updates soon.
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